Self-Regulated Learning Strategies: Zimmerman’s Cyclical Phases Model and Writing Skill

English is the most widely spoken language with more than 1,400 million speakers around the world. In Ecuador, English is taught as a foreign language in which the writing skill has been identified as a problematic one to be developed successfully. According to several studies, strategies and methodologies applied in class are responsible for having good or bad results in the development of a language skill. The present study aimed to investigate the influence of self-regulated learning strategies in the development of writing skills in EFL postgraduate students. Investigating the impact of SRL on EFL postgraduate students’ writing skill and the aspects that significantly improved based on Zimmerman’s Cyclical Model contribute to the teaching and learning process in language learning. This research employed a pre-experimental design; the sample was a group of 26 EFL postgraduate students in a teaching training program at an Ecuadorian public university. The instrument used to collect the required data was a standardized Cambridge exam (PET) applied as a pre-test and post-test. The approach of this research was quantitative since it allowed collecting, analyzing, and presenting the data obtained from the results of the pre-test and post-test. The data was analyzed using statistics analysis. This research presented some findings: self-regulated learning strategies allowed students to improve their writing skill and turned them into autonomous and lifelong learners. Therefore, self-regulated learning strategies not only helped students to improve and develop writing skill but also helped them to develop positive attitudes needed to support their writing performance.